Wilmington residents are invited to fight the zombie apocalypse with Nerf guns

WILMINGTON — Watch out, Wilmington – zombies are coming! Well, for one night, at least. And to combat them, locals are being invited to arm themselves with Nerf guns.

The Port City will be one of 300 cities across the country where players can participate in what is being billed as “the world’s largest zombie event/Nerf war.”

“We created a movie and were looking for a way to market it, and this is what we came up with,” said Hamid Torabpour, the director and one of the writers of “Zombie – The Movie.”

The event will be held on Oct. 22 starting at 6 p.m. It last two hours. The interactive game will blend real life with augmented reality and simulation.

“It’s kind of like Pokemon GO meets zombies and Nerf guns,” Torabpour said, referencing the mobile app game based on a popular Japanese cartoon show that went viral this summer.

According to Torabpour, players, who will be identified by T-shirts that will be mailed to them upon registration, can choose their level of interaction.

“They can either play solely on their phone using the characters they find in the augmented reality, or they can find other people in the city that are playing the game,” said Torabpour, adding that the game can be played in all the public parts of the city. “It’s really up to them.”

Throughout the course of the two hours, several rounds of up to 20 minutes each will be played, during which zombies will have to turn as many humans as possible. The survivors will be able to defend themselves using the Nerf guns. If all humans are tagged before the 20 minutes are up, then a new round will start. Everyone will have a chance to play both a human and a zombie.

Some of the items that come with Zombie Nerf Attack registration. Courtesy photo.

All players will also have to wear a bib and bracelet, which will be sent to them, to track them during the game. Organizers of the event are hoping that the total number of participants nationwide will set a new Guiness Book of World Records mark for number of people using Nerf blasters in one event.

In addition to the T-shirt and tracking devices, participants will be given several other things when they register, including a small Nerf gun, protective eye wear and access to the app they must download to play. They will also be given a free ticket to see “Zombies – The Movie,” which according to Torabpour will be released the second week of October.

The feature film, which was independently funded and filmed in Minnesota, also has a lesson to get across.

“All zombie movies have a social message,” said Torabpour. “For us, we saw how everybody thinks they can destroy others on social media because they’re hiding behind a screen. We want to show people that we don’t have to be like that as a society. We want to encourage people to not tear each other down.”